David Lida > Quotes

“…out of the city’s eighty-five thousand streets, there are about eight hundred fifty called Juárez, seven hundred fifty named Hidalgo, and seven hundred known as Morelos. Two hundred are called 16 de Septiembre, while a hundred more are called 16 de Septiembre Avenue, Alley, Mews, or Extension…”
― David Lida

“Chilango, defeño, capitalino. Different words, each meaning someone who lives in Mexico City. Chilango, especially from the mouth of someone who lives in la provincia, is usually an insult, connoting a loud, arrogant, ill-mannered, loutish person. However, the word has been appropriated by younger generations of city dwellers, who proudly identify themselves as chilangos,”
― David Lida, First Stop in the New World

“But with the incessant peso devaluations at the end of the twentieth century, the PRI became a less openhanded benefactor. Although there was a smaller pie to split, politicians of the era of Carlos Hank González became greedier, leaving fewer scraps for their constituents.”
― David Lida, First Stop in the New World

“It is no longer “the biggest city on earth,” if it ever could have been accurately counted as such. Others such as Los Angeles have a far greater land mass, and several years ago the Tokyo-Yokahama corridor replaced Mexico City as the world’s most populous metropolis. Numerous other cities, although with fewer residents, have far greater population density. Mexico City has eighty-four hundred people per square kilometer, while Mumbai, Lagos, Karachi, and Seoul have more than double that figure. Bogotá, Shanghai, Lima, and Taipei also are significantly more jam-packed.”
― David Lida, First Stop in the New World

“In Mexico City, people survive despite the politicians, rather than as a result of anything they are doing. Like the protesters, when the politicians get in the way, chilangos just take the long way around.”
― David Lida, First Stop in the New World

“George W. Grayson, professor of government at the College of William and Mary, published a background paper in 2006 that included some salient details. Mexican federal deputies earn $148,000 a year as opposed to the French, who make $78,000, or the Germans, who earn $105,000. When they show up for work, they only participate in two legislative sessions a year, which collectively last six and a half months (less weekends and holidays). State legislators earn $60,632 a year, more than double that of their counterparts in the United States, who make $28,261. Even more money is made through the traffic of influence and corruption.”
― David Lida, First Stop in the New World